The West should realise that Putin is becoming a dictator

By Boris Berezovsky

12:01AM GMT 06 Nov 2003

I write from my home in London, free to speak my mind and be with my family thanks to the independence and fairness of British democratic society. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of Russia's leading businessmen, is in a Moscow jail 12 days after his arrest in Siberia. With no end in sight, he is not so fortunate.

Today President Putin will join European leaders at the EU-Russia Summit in Rome where they will confront global challenges that call for collective commitment and unity of purpose on Iraq, Nato and anti-terrorism. But the fact is that the West needs to pay equal attention to Mr Putin's attacks on democratic institutions in Russia as it does to the fight for global security.

In spring 2004, when they meet again, you will be joined by 10 new states with democratically elected leaders. It is increasingly my belief, especially after the outrageous and unnecessary jailing of Mr Khodorkovsky, that the Putin regime has lost any legitimacy and, as a result, Mr Putin will not be at the EU-Russia Summit next year.

I believe that Mr Putin will not be re-elected president of the Russian people in March 2004 because his attempts to construct an undemocratic, centralised political system that is organised and ruled by the state rather than citizens, are doomed to failure.

I call on Western leaders in Rome to speak out against Mr Putin's arbitrary and selective application of law for political purposes and what seems to be his ambition to become leader of an authoritarian state. I have asked all of Russia's political parties who believe in the constitution and civil liberties to unite, whether they are on the political Left or Right.

I think they should refuse to participate in December's parliamentary elections. This is the only way in which the opposition can constitutionally translate the de facto illegitimacy of the Putin regime into an illegitimacy expressed in legal, constitutional terms. Once the regime has lost its formal legitimacy, then the legitimacy of the president, too, is gone.

Mr Putin's autocratic intentions have been all too obvious since the spring of 2000, the start of his creeping anti-constitutional coup d'état. Since then he has been trying to take total control of the Russian state's three key power centres.

The first stage was to take control of political power structures, reining in and weakening regional governors - they are now answerable to seven federal officials appointed by the president. As for the upper house of Parliament, the Council of the Confederation, it is no longer elected but also appointed by the president. Mr Putin centralised power in his hands, as well as taking control of the state's bureaucracy and his friends from his days in the security services.

His own party, Unity, is the largest in the Duma, so he effectively controls that too. Under the president's administration, a mockery has been made of the principle of separation of powers.

Taking control of political structures is worthless if one does not also take control of the mass media. That is why Mr Putin has been attacking the media in the second stage of his power grab. Sadly, it is no longer possible to watch independent television in Russia since the state seized control of ORT, NTV and TV-6 from myself and Vladimir Gusinsky (another businessman now in exile).

Mr Putin knows very well that controlling the political structures and the mass media would not succeed without the state also controlling the third source of power - business and the economy. This is what we are seeing now: Mr Putin's attack on business. The state's determination to humble business led to the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky as well as Russian state prosecutors impounding a controlling stake in Yukos, Russia's leading oil company.

The purpose of this unlawful persecution is to prevent a consolidation of capital and thus thwart the Russian political and business community from uniting in opposition to the Kremlin. Yukos may seem a strange choice for this demonstration of political power - why choose a large, internationally respected company to attack? Yet what better way for Mr Putin to show that he is in charge than to take on the biggest and most powerful company? If you can put Yukos under control, you can do it with anyone.

There can be no doubt that this latest crackdown is entirely politically motivated. Mr Putin has said that the business community can carry on with their business - but they should stay away from politics. In the Kremlin's eyes, Mr Khodorkovsky's sin was that he funded two political parties, Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces. No one should be surprised that the crackdown comes just as parliamentary and presidential elections loom. An unmistakable signal is being sent to Russians wishing to exercise their constitutional right to free and independent thought: don't.

One of the main problems facing Russia is that businessmen have not realised their political responsibility - the duty they owe to their country and fellow citizens to push forward the progressive reforms of the past decade and fight against the increasing totalitarianism of the Putin regime. It is essential that politicians and the business community act now and do not sit it out for another four years. Doing nothing is not an option, as they could find themselves "biding time" in Siberia.

I am happy living in England and am grateful for every day I have here but I love my mother country, and look forward to returning home soon. We know well that only we Russians can tame Putin. However, world leaders must have the courage to speak the truth about what is going wrong in Russia, giving voice and hope to the millions of Russians who now can only remain silent in the face of the state's repression.

Boris Berezovsky was one of the most prominent Russian businessmen until he fell out with President Putin and many of his assets were seized in 2000. He was granted political asylum by the Home Office this year